ANTI-FLUORIDATION campaigners will end their unofficial referendum on the same weekend as fluoride is added to water supplies in Warrnambool, Allansford and Koroit.
Organisers of the citizens-initiated poll, which started on May 8, aim to have collected the views of 10 per cent of eligible voters by September 29.
“We will have polled 10 per cent of the population over 18 years of age,” poll assistant Gillian Blair told The Standard .
“I would estimate 99.9 per cent of those who have voted are against it.”
So far the poll has been run by volunteers in CBD shops as well as markets, a flower show and a cat show.
Campaigners will take the poll door-to-door across the district, starting in Allansford today.
They will also have a higher-profile polling booth on the Civic Green this weekend and September 27 and 28.
“We want to achieve our target by the end of the month,” Ms Blair said.
“Results will be sent to the Victorian Electoral Commission. The process is clear and honest. Participants must show valid ID and voting papers are numbered to stop fiddling with the system.
“We’ve put our lives on hold for many months to do this and try to persuade councils and the Government to change the stance on fluoridation.”
The poll follows two public protest meetings last year, each attended by about 800 people, where Warrnambool City Council was criticised for not opposing the State Government’s decision to force fluoridation as a dental health policy.
Council candidate Peter Hulin said although he was not involved with organising the poll, he urged people to vote.
“I’m a person who believes people have the right to choose what goes in their bodies, especially something which would effect their health now or later in life,” he said.
“It is very important people vote to show council and our State and Federal governments that we are not happy with this (fluoridation).”
The Warrnambool Fluoride Action Group vowed to take the issue to the High Court, confident of overturning government policy.
The unofficial poll was a way of gleaning community views which would form part of a proposed case by anti-fluoridation groups around the nation.
Wannon Water has installed specialised equipment at its Albert Park treatment plant to start fluoridation in the last week of September.
Residents in Warrnambool, Koroit and Allansford received letters yesterday from Wannon Water on behalf of the Department of Human Services, informing them of the change.